Reflections of a Godin Post

by | Jan 18, 2013 | All Posts, Marketing | 0 comments

I read Seth Godin’s blog regularly. He’s pretty amazing and often inspires me as a creative marketing agency owner.

Lately, or well, I should say within the last year (yes, I, too, skip blogging a lot as my schedule gets quite busy – but remember, folks, it’s do as I say, not as I do), Seth has touched on so many topics that I have integrated into my agency’s own messaging. I feel compelled to highlight some of these points and expand a bit on each one.

With great power comes great irresponsibility

It’s possible that Peter Parker was uninformed.

Organizations tend to view “responsiblity” as doing the safe, proven and traditional tasks, because to do anything else is too risky. The more successful they become, the less inclined they are to explore the edges.

In fact, organizations with reach and leverage ought to be taking more risks, doing more generous work and creating bolder art. That’s the most responsible thing they can do.

My take: I’ve been saying for years that breaking rules is the only way to truly be successful with your marketing. If you are following all the rules and playing it safe, no one will remember you quite as much as they will if you do something outlandish. Embrace your inner troublemaker.

For truly important problems

You know something is important when you’re willing to let someone else take the credit if that’s what it takes to get it done.

My take: This is quite interesting to me, as it often happens that I work on proposals for Tylar & Company, then hand them over to Errin, my creative design assistant, to polish it up, dot the i’s, cross the t’s, and send it off to the prospect. Teamstorming (my version of team-building combined with brainstorming) is just one way we integrate our talents to make sure we are at the top of our game, no matter who takes the credit. Every client is a problem, every client is important. What’s THAT mean? Every client seeks our expertise because they have a problem. Our clients’ problems are our problems. Our clients are our problems, our problems are important – and what we do around here is solve problems.

Clean Bathrooms

 

The facilities at DisneyWorld are clean. It’s not a profit center, of course. They don’t make them clean because they’re going to charge you to use them. They make them clean because if they didn’t, you’d have a reason not to come.It turns out that just about everything we do involves cleaning the bathrooms. Creating an environment where care and trust are expressed. If you take a lot of time to ask, “how will this pay off,” you’re probably asking the wrong question. When you are trusted because you care, it’s quite likely the revenue will take care of itself.

My take: I sort of laughed at this blog post. Just a little laugh, a snicker, if you will. My friends and family know that when they come to my house, it’s clean. I am organized in my creative nature, which tends to be somewhat of an oxymoron, I know. The full experience of any place you go is very similar to the full experience of every company you do business with. If you present every aspect of your business in the same manner – professional, knowledgeable, thorough, well-rounded – then your clients and customers will come back without question. They will come back because although you were hired to design a website, you managed to make sure there were no spelling errors in the copy they provided. They will come back because you were replying to their 10:03 PM email at 10:09 PM. All the while, not complaining, yet feeling a sense of accomplishment because *this* is what you *get* to do, not what you *have* to do. Clean your bathrooms, and clean your bathrooms often.

 

That’s all, for now. Next up? Teamstorming!

Submit a Comment